Sheila J. Martin

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Sheila Judith Martin (born 1947 [1] ) is an American Branch Davidian and a survivor of the Waco siege. She was the wife of Douglas Wayne Martin, a Harvard-educated lawyer, who died in the April 19, 1993, fire that destroyed Mount Carmel Center. [2] Four out of her seven children died in the fire: Wayne Joseph, 20; Anita, 18; Sheila Renee, 15; and Lisa Martin, 13. [3] [4] In September 1993, she received custody of James Martin (1982–1998 [4] [5] ) who has cerebral palsy and is blind because of a meningitis infection at 4 months old. [4] [6] By 1994, she obtained custody in Texas state court of her two other children – Daniel (born c. 1987) and Kimberly (born c. 1989). [3] [4]

Contents

Martin grew up in Boston, Massachusetts. [7] Her African-American family attended services at an Episcopal Church, but she became interested in Seventh-day Adventism through boarders who rented rooms from her parents. She moved to New York City and met Douglas Wayne Martin. She married him and had seven children with him in total. [1]

In the miniseries Waco (2018), she was played by Darcel Danielle. [8]

Joining the Branch Davidians and the Waco siege

Reportedly, Sheila Martin first heard of the Branch Davidians under Benjamin Roden in the 1960s. [9] But Martin first began contact with David Koresh, the contemporary leader of the Branch Davidians, in 1982. After James Martin was disabled from a meningitis infection soon after his birth, Martin sought consultation and found it through Koresh via their conversations over the telephone. In 1985, she and Wayne Martin moved to Texas from Durham, North Carolina; they began living in the Mount Carmel Center in 1988. [10] She lived in a bus at the Palestine, Texas camp, where many Branch Davidians lived while a dispute of leadership occurred between Koresh and George Roden over Mount Carmel Center. [1] [11]

Martin was in the compound on February 28, 1993, the day the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) attempted to conduct a raid of the Mount Carmel Center and serve search warrants and an arrest warrant on David Koresh. [4]

Martin left the Mount Carmel Center on March 21, 1993, with her three youngest children. [10] [12] She was immediately held as a material witness by federal authorities including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in a hotel acting as a halfway house. [10] [13] [14] Her three children were put into the foster care system until she regained custody of James Martin in September 1993. [10] [3] She testified in the trial of eleven Branch Davidians in San Antonio saying that the February 28 shootout was not planned and there was no conspiracy to murder federal agents. [15]

Life after the Waco siege

In 1994, Shelia Martin sent a notice to the ATF that she intended to sue for US$140 million. [3] In 2000, she, among others, was represented in a wrongful death lawsuit of US$675 million by Michael Caddell along with former U.S. attorney general Ramsey Clark, but the jury ruled against the Branch Davidians on July 14, 2000. [16] [17] [18]

In 1998, Martin assisted in building a museum on the site of the siege to commemorate those who died there. [19] [20]

In 2009, Martin wrote a memoir called When They Were Mine: Memoirs of a Branch Davidian Wife and Mother, edited by Catherine Wessinger who has conducted extensive oral histories on Branch Davidians. [21] [22]

According to Esquire , as of 2020 Martin lives in the Waco area. [23] Martin, along with survivor Clive Doyle, still believe that David Koresh was the Lamb of God. [7] From at least 2013 until his death in 2022, they met every Saturday for Bible study. [24]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Carmel Center</span> Former home used by the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, USA

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Douglas Wayne Martin, was an American Branch Davidian and Harvard-trained attorney who left the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He worked as an attorney in multiple fields, including contract, child custody, and real estate law, and provided the proceeds to the Branch Davidians. He was nominally married to Sheila Judith Martin, another Branch Davidian, but she was "carnally" married to David Koresh, the Branch Davidian leader. Wayne and Sheila had six children, three of whom died in the 1993 fire. Sheila had two more children with Koresh. In total, four children died in the April 19 fire: Wayne Joseph, 20; Anita, 18; Sheila Renee, 15; and Lisa Martin, 13. Sheila Martin, who left Mount Carmel Center on March 21 in the middle of the siege, eventually won custody over the three surviving children: James, Daniel, and Kimberly Martin. Wayne Martin was present at Mount Carmel Center when the February 28, 1993, raid occurred. He was the first person in the compound to call 9-1-1 to local authorities and asked to call off the raid for risk of harming women and children. He was considered the second- or third-in-command at Mt. Carmel, behind or equal to Steve Schneider. He died in the April 19, 1993, fire with three of his children. Wayne Martin was a character in the 2018 miniseries Waco, played by Demore Barnes.

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The Ashes of Waco: An Investigation is a 1995 non-fiction book by journalist Dick J. Reavis about the Waco siege. Reavis is a professor of English at North Carolina State University and former reporter for the San Antonio Light and San Antonio Express. The book was first published by Simon & Schuster in 1995, and it was later re-published by Syracuse University Press in 1998. According to Catherine Wessinger, Reavis argues that "the story of the Davidian tragedy was not reported fully, in part because the FBI controlled information, but also because reporters did not investigate". Reavis reportedly left his job from an "alternative" newspaper in Texas to research for the book.

Why Waco?: Cults and the Battle for Religious Freedom in America is a 1995 non-fiction book written by James D. Tabor and Eugene V. Gallagher on the Waco siege and the anti-cult movement in America. It was published by the University of California Press. The same press reprinted it in 1997 in paperback. The appendix of the book contains an unfinished manuscript written by David Koresh, the leader of the Branch Davidians, on the Seven seals in the Book of Revelation. The appendix has a preface written by Tabor and J. Phillip Arnold. The manuscript was obtained from a survivor of the fire, Ruth Riddle. The final pages of the book provide a list of Branch Davidians who died in the 28 February 1993 raid, the 19 April 1993 fire, and who survived.

Ruth Ottman Riddle is a Canadian Branch Davidian and survivor of the Waco siege. Riddle was raised in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. She was born as Ruth Ellen Ottman. Riddle was one of nine survivors of the 19 April 1993 fire that destroyed the Mount Carmel Center and most of its occupants. She carried with her after leaving the compound a copy of David Koresh's final incomplete manuscript which after creating he agreed to leave. It was reprinted in James D. Tabor and Eugene V. Gallagher's book Why Waco?: Cults and the Battle for Religious Freedom in America. She was married to another Branch Davidian, James Loyle Riddle, who died in the 19 April 1993 fire. Her niece, Misty Dawn Ferguson, survived the fire as well. She was formerly of Tweed, Ontario. However, other sources indicate she is from Oshawa, Ontario.

Dana Okimoto is an American former Branch Davidian. She moved to Waco, Texas, from Los Angeles, California, in approximately 1988 with Robyn Bunds, a former Branch Davidian turned critic. She is originally from Hawaii and is a registered psychiatric nurse at Kaneohe State Hospital, and remarried to Roy Kiyabu, a chef, as of 2003. She gave birth to Sky or Skye Borne Okimoto and Scooter Okimoto, who are both children of David Koresh, the leader of the Branch Davidians.

Charles J. Pace is the current leader of The Branch, The Lord Our Righteousness, the supposed successor group of the Branch Davidians after 1993. According to the Toronto Star, he is from Collingwood, Canada. He joined the Branch Davidians in the 1980s, but he left just before the Waco siege that destroyed the Mt. Carmel center. He claims to be the successor to David Koresh as the prophet of the Branch Davidians. He returned to Waco, Texas, in 1994 after having left the Mount Carmel Center in the mid-1980s in order to start his own religious movement. He is trained as a reflexologist, nutritionist and colon therapist, according to the Toronto Star. A tractor reportedly amputated his foot sometime before April 2013. National Public Radio and other news sources note that he is an herbalist and gardener. He is married to Alex Pace and has two children, Michael and Angela Pace.

Brad Eugene Branch is an American former Branch Davidian who was charged and convicted of aiding and abetting voluntary manslaughter of federal agents during the 1993 Waco siege and weapons charges. He was sentenced to ten years in prison for the voluntary manslaughter charge and thirty years for the weapons charges. Originally, the charge of carrying a firearm during a violent crime was based on a conspiracy to murder charge that was acquitted for Branch and other Davidians, but federal prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Walter Smith to reinstate the weapons charges, which he did. The Branch Davidians, including Brad Branch, attempted to appeal the charges, but the appeals were turned down in 1997. The United States Supreme Court agreed to hear appellate arguments from the Branch Davidians including Branch in 2000. In response to the Supreme Court's ruling that Smith overstepped his power in his sentencing, he reduced his and other Davidians' sentences to five years for the weapons charges.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Adams, George (November 2010). "When They Were Mine: Memoirs of a Branch Davidian Wife and Mother". Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions . 14 (2): 126–7. doi:10.1525/nr.2010.14.2.126. JSTOR   10.1525/nr.2010.14.2.126 – via JSTOR.
  2. ↑ Ericksen, Phillip (April 19, 2018). "Remaining Davidians reflect on deadly fire 25 years ago". Waco Tribune-Herald . Retrieved August 10, 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 England, Mark (February 8, 1994). "Widow plans to sue ATF: Branch Davidian lost husband, four children in April 19 fire". Waco Tribune-Herald . Retrieved August 10, 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Verhovek, Sam (July 9, 1995). "NO MARTYRS IN WACO". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved August 10, 2022.
  5. ↑ Fantz, Ashley (April 14, 2011). "18 years after Waco, Davidians believe Koresh was God". www.cnn.com. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
  6. ↑ Aron, Jaime (September 29, 1993). "Branch Davidian Woman Takes Son Home". AP NEWS. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
  7. 1 2 Benson, Eric (March 26, 2018). "At Bible Study With David Koresh's Last Followers". Texas Monthly. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
  8. ↑ Waco (TV Mini Series 2018) - IMDb , retrieved August 10, 2022
  9. ↑ AP (June 22, 2000). "Former Durham resident among plaintiffs in Waco lawsuit". The Associated Press State & Local Wire.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Pressley, Sue Anne (August 28, 1993). "THE CURIOUS CONTINUE WACO SIEGE". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved August 10, 2022.
  11. ↑ Nelson, Alan; Gines, Sandra (January 17, 1988). "Crying in the wilderness: A religious commune sets up a dwelling place in the woods amid a struggle between rival prophets". WacoTrib.com. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
  12. ↑ Weikel, Dan (March 22, 1993). "7 Cultists Leave; Hopes Rise for End to Standoff". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
  13. ↑ "Lawyer and Cult Leader Meet for 2d Straight Day". The New York Times . March 31, 1993.
  14. ↑ "Accounting for the Waco Branch Davidians". The New York Times . April 22, 1993.
  15. ↑ McGraw, Dan (January 17, 1994). "One true believer's trials and tribulations". U.S. News & World Report .
  16. ↑ Garcia, Guillermo X. (June 20, 2000). "Jury chosen in Waco raid suit Lawyers in $675M case say federal agents used excessive force in 1993". USA Today .
  17. ↑ Ashe, Martha (July 14, 2000). "Davidian trial plaintiffs anticipated jury verdict". Cox News Service .
  18. ↑ AP (July 15, 2000). "U.S. feds cleared in Waco deaths". Windsor Star .
  19. ↑ Verhovek, Sam Howe (April 19, 1998). "5 Years After Waco Standoff: The Spirit of Koresh Lingers". The New York Times .
  20. ↑ AP (April 19, 1998). "Museum commemorates fatalities of Waco". South Bend Tribune .
  21. ↑ Martin, Sheila (2009). Wessinger, Catherine (ed.). When They Were Mine: Memoirs of a Branch Davidian Wife and Mother. Waco: Baylor University Press. ISBN   978-1602580008.
  22. ↑ Wessinger, Catherine (2005). "Autobiographies of Three Surviving Branch Davidians". Fieldwork in Religion. 1 (2): 165–97. doi:10.1558/firn.v1i2.165.
  23. ↑ Bruney, Gabrielle (May 10, 2020). "Here's the True Story of the 'Waco' Siege, and Where Its Survivors Are Now". Esquire. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
  24. ↑ Burnett, John (April 20, 2013). "Two Decades Later, Some Branch Davidians Still Believe". NPR.org. Retrieved August 10, 2022.


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